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The color in the shadows

January 9, 2017March 7, 2018Posted in creativity, Learning WPTagged artfuel, artful, artskills, creativity, gardeningLeave a comment

It’s cold and rainy this week in Seattle and I am housebound today with a wrenched back. Perhaps I was overconfident in my yoga classes last week. The extra backbends seemed like a good idea at the time.

However, I want to put a new header image on the blog so I went back to the well of my garden photos from last May and drew/painted a a series of small calla sketches, about 1.5 inches each, to get the right proportions for the wide, narrow header.

I’m happy so see that I’m loosening up with the watercolor pencils and paints. The small scale of these sketches also forced me to simplify. Applying what I learned today I will make a larger version of each little sketch later this week as I continue to explore these fascinatingly-shaped flowers.

Though these callas are white, they reveal so many other colors in their folds and shadows.

I first saw colorful shadows in Santa Fe, where the elevation and brilliant sunlight created the most amazing purple and green shadows in the corners of adobe walls and buildings. I had never seen this where I’d grown up, in Ohio.

On sunny winter days, look for colors in snow shadows; they are never just gray. There are so many colors in the icy crystals as the sun changes throughout the day.

Have you been to other places where you’ve seen this phenomenon of color in shadow?

Who are your creative influencers?

January 7, 2017May 2, 2017Posted in creativity, InfluencersTagged artfuel, artful, artskills, creativity, Richard Diebenkorn, transparent enamels, watercolor pencils5 Comments

I’ve always admired American painter Richard Diebenkorn (1922 – 1993) and today I was struck to recognize his influence on some artwork I created years ago in a totally different medium.

Diebenkorn’s Ocean Park series series has long fascinated me for reasons I don’t fully understand. But one of our first purchases as a young couple was a framed Diebenkorn poster featuring his 1970 painting, Ocean Park #29. We’d just moved into our first apartment in a small college town and though money was tight, we splurged on some art for our walls.

Fortunately, the Diebenkorn poster survived many moves and currently hangs in my ‘studio.’ So it was very convenient to use as a reference for my first watercolor pencil exploration.

I hoped that by recreating #29 in a very small size and a different medium, I could quickly practice drawing, try out the pencils and understand more about why this particular painting charms me so. Why was Diebenkorn using this color next to that? What was his purpose using the diagonal while line? How does he blend his colors and lines?

Though Diebenkorn worked in oils for his OP series, I was also eager to see whether I could hold a firm edge between various watercolors while still making something painterly.

In my homage to Mr. Diebenkorn, below, my jewel tones evoke transparency and light.

I based another sketch, below, on his Ocean Park #79 (1975).

Reinterpreting the Diebenkorns does not make my qiuck sketches original art. But studying them in this way has simply helped me learn more about his work and how I might apply what I’ve learned in the future.

However, this morning, as I was dusting off and browsing through some old design sketchbooks from my jewelry making days, I could see his influence in my series of cloisonne enameled pins/brooches and pendants. These three pieces relate to his work, but I never realized that until today.

Perhaps our influencers affect us differently at various times in our lives.

Whose influence fuels your creativity?

They say it takes two…

January 5, 2017March 7, 2018Posted in creativity, InfluencersTagged artfuel, artful, Artistic license, artskills, creativity, gardening, watercolor pencils10 Comments

…Two people, that is, to create an artwork. One to bring it into existence and another to say “STOP” when it’s finished.

Have you ever taken a good drawing or painting too far and ruined it?

I’ve blown up several sketches over the past couple of days, but I DID draw or paint each day so far this year. All five days of it. And I am not ashamed to share a couple of watercolor pencil drawings/paintings.

Working from photos I took in my garden last May, these made me happy today:

Reference photo from May, 2016:

My water color version, January 4, 2017:

I liked this but went further with it. Looking at the version below, I wish I’d listened to that voice that said, Stop!

Final Calla Lily, January 4, 2017:

I am not sure the addition of the small leaf at top right adds anything to the composition, though I do like the more atmospheric areas around the flower and leaves and the darker values add drama.

I’m glad to have photos of both stages so that I did not lose what I liked about the first version.

Today, I drew from a different reference photo, also from May 2016:

My January 5 interpretation, in watercolor:

Callas are dramatic flowers and interesting to draw.

Years ago, I made jewelry and created many cloisonne enameled pendants featuring this flower. I sold them all but wish I had kept one. My original design sketches and photos of some finished pieces are tucked away somewhere. It might be time to review them and see what I can learn from them this year. I sense the need for another round of closet cleaning to find them. Oy!

However, for now, I am excited that new callas will emerge in my garden in a few months.

The days are already lengthening and I know that Spring is coming.

Ten minutes to better

January 4, 2017May 2, 2017Posted in creativityTagged artfuel, artful, artskills, creativity2 Comments

Responding to a Ten Minute Challenge to improve artskills, I roughed out six water color sketches of one object on a single sheet of paper. Timing myself, I spent no more than ten minutes a sketch, and there was no pressure to perfect each one.

Starting with the panel in the top left and ending at bottom right, I find it fascinating to see how much fresher and looser my work had become in just one hour. Encouraging.

Creative day 1, 2017

January 1, 2017May 2, 2017Posted in creativityTagged artskills, bloggingfundamentals4 Comments

I hope to draw or paint daily this year. Carol Marine, a daily painter whose book on the topic I found recently, writes that doing so is the surest, fastest way to improve. This sketch of two mandarin oranges is my first of the year.

Then I was hungry and ate one of my props. Here’s the remaining orange, this time in watercolor pencil.

I look forward to this time next year, seeing how my skills improve!

Our next 365-day trip around the sun

December 31, 2016November 1, 2018Posted in creativity, RetirementTagged artfuel, artskills, bloggingfundamentals, creativity, Daily Paintworks, Julia Cameron3 Comments

I love the idea of each year – either starting on January 1 or on our birthdays – as a 365-day trip around the sun. Thinking this way generates a completely different perspective on how I used (or squandered) the previous year. And how I could use the gift of all this time and space travelling in the year ahead.

2016 was a milestone for me. I retired. I floundered. But I finally began to figure out a new sense of identity and purpose. (Thank you, Julia Cameron!) With the help of her book for ‘retirees and other creative souls’ I recalled all the creative endeavors I tried, starting in childhood, and realized that I now have time to revisit and explore them anew if I choose.

For example, below is an abstractish watercolor landscape I painted some 30 years ago.

I found it when cleaning closets last spring (in my post-retirement floundering period) and was sad to see that it had become foxed and could not be saved. Its frame had been broken when we moved to Seattle 16 years ago, and since then it had been sitting in a closet, absorbing moisture. Oy. Before I consigned it to the dustbin, I snapped a photo. Now I am glad I did because I might try to recreate or improve upon it.

I am ready for 2017!

I’m now structuring my days to flex my mental and physical art making muscles. I already feel better for doing both.

I’m at the gym or taking a brisk walk every day, striving to find the joy in exercise. Haven’t yet but I do like having more energy and feeling stronger.

More interestingly, I’ve created a studio space in my home where I can drop in and out to work when I wish. I try to spend at least one hour there each day, drawing, painting or exploring other artists’ WP sites or at Daily Paint Works, which is a treasure trove of small artwork by daily painters. They also offer tutorials – some free and others for a small fee. Great resource.

DPW has inspired me to try to complete a drawing or painting each day in 2017. Tomorrow I will post number 1.

In 2017, I also aim to reconnect with people who have been important influencers in my art life. I will write about them in the coming months and hope you will be inspired by them, too.

Please feel free to scoop up any Artfuel you find here, and use it to feed your own creativity. The new connections I’m making with creative people here on WordPress and in other communities I am finding are certainly nurturing my creativity. Thank you for the Artfuel you contribute here.

Cheers and Happy New Year!

Inspiration from my garden

December 21, 2016November 1, 2018Posted in creativityTagged artfuel, artful, Artistic license, artskills, bloggingfundamentals, creativity, gardening, watercolor pencils3 Comments

Something is always blooming in Seattle and my small garden offers a constant parade of subjects for drawing and painting. Much more fun than weeding!

This photo taken in late fall, looking down from above a large ceramic planter, shows fading heuchera and Japanese forest grass leaves above a cascade of flowering rosemary. I liked the composition enough to use as the basis for a watercolor sketch.

I’d recently found some dusty art supplies that had been tucked away for years in various parts of the house. Among them was a set of watercolor pencils that I don’t recall buying and didn’t really know how to use. The colors were not impressive to draw with, but when I brushed water over the pigments, they became more vibrant as they melted and blended together. These could be interesting.

I used a grid system to transfer the design from the photo to a larger sheet of paper. Treating each square of the grid as a small abstract on its own, lets me concentrate on each section’s shapes, values, colors and textures. The grid marks can be erased, painted over or treated as design elements, as I did in this color sketch.

Reviving dormant creative skills

December 13, 2016April 6, 2020Posted in creativity, RetirementTagged artful, artskills, bloggingfundamentals, cooking, creativity, Daily Paintworks, Daniel Smith art supplies Seattle, gardening, Julia Cameron, Silver Sneakers, Urban Sketchers1 Comment

I parked my art-making skills for many years while I focused on a business career. It was exciting to use a different kind of creativity in my many ‘jobs,’ and I’m proud to have made a positive impact throughout my worklife. My work was rewarding and I am grateful for all the adventures and knowledge I gained along the way.

Art was not absent from my life during these years. Collecting art, including items for our home and wearables, supports other artists and gives us joy as we live every day among their art. We’ve also become creative cooks and gardeners, artful endeavors which involve even more senses.

Since I retired in the Spring, my summer was focused on my garden and I began to document the beauty which unfolded throughout the season, with photographs.

I will continue to garden but I’ve discovered my broader purpose in retirement is to try to live more artfully in everything I do.

With the benefit of Julia Cameron’s book for retirees, (and other creative souls) writing my memoire helps me to recall many creative pursuits I explored at different times of my life. Starting in childhood, sewing, designing, metal arts, jewelry design, sculpture, drawing and painting all brought me joy and could be artforms to explore again.

I’m now working to revive my painting and drawing skills to see whether I can make art again. My local Senior Center offers a weekly watercolor class that is both affordable and encouraging. I’ve just discovered Urban Sketchers and am eager to see if I could try this artform. Through a book about the discipline of daily painting by Carol Marine, I find inspriation at Daily Paintworks every day!

I am again in love with art supply stores and find Daniel Smith to be a tremendous resource here in Seattle.

Revisting artists whose work speaks to me, prompts me to analyze why. And exploring other artists’ work in visual arts, music, drama and writing, sparks ideas for my own future work.

Exercising both mind and body will be essential to sustaining a creative life, so I’m walking, observantly, most days, seeking subjects to draw or paint. And, thanks to Humana’s Silver Sneakers program, several times a week I’m taking active classes at a local gym, in a variety of strength-building activities.

My days are beginning to feel more structured and I’m gaining a new sense of positive outlook about this new chapter of my life. If you have insights to share about your creative retirement, please share them!